Comparative Method (Historical Linguistics)
The comparative method is the foundational technique of historical linguistics for demonstrating that languages are genetically related and for reconstructing their unattested common ancestor. By systematically comparing cognate words across related languages and uncovering the regular, recurring sound correspondences between them — exemplified by Grimm's Law in Germanic — analysts reconstruct the forms of the proto-language and the sound changes that produced each daughter, and on that basis build the family tree. It is a qualitative, evidence-driven method distinct from the generic logic of cross-case comparison: here the 'comparison' is of linguistic forms governed by the regularity of sound change.
Source record
Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.
- Campbell, L. (2013). Historical Linguistics: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. · ISBN 9780748675593
- Hock, H. H. (1991). Principles of Historical Linguistics (2nd ed.). Mouton de Gruyter. · ISBN 9783110129625
- Rankin, R. L. (2003). The comparative method. In B. D. Joseph & R. D. Janda (Eds.), The Handbook of Historical Linguistics (pp. 183–212). Blackwell. · ISBN 9781405127479
Curated claims
Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.
This view does not invent a claim assessment when the ledger has none.
Related methods
Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.